NDLEA Officers Indicted By Drug Traffickers arrested by Police IRT Summoned To Court With Cocaine Exhibits

NDLEA Officers Indicted By Drug Traffickers arrested by Police IRT Summoned To Court With Cocaine Exhibits

Officers of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have appeared in court with exhibits containing 19.5kg of cocaine recovered by the Police IRT in Enugu international Airport as they testified about how two convicted drug traffickers passed through Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, on 19 January 2022 after being cleared by compromised NDLEA officers at the airport as clearly shown by the Video and written confessions of the 2 drug Suspects arrested by Police IRT at the Enugu international Airport on 19/1/2022 and subsequently transferred to NDLEA for further investigation on 25/1/2022.

The officers were summoned to testify in the trial of Deputy Commissioner of Police Abba Kyari over the circumstances surrounding the drug trafficking incident and clearing of the drug Suspects after their pictures were sent to the NDLEA officers before their Arrival via the EthiopianAirline. Two of the officers took the witness stand and were cross-examined by defence counsel, Barrister Albert Akahs, on Tuesday and Wednesday.

One of the witnesses, Kalu Mary Nneoma, told the court on Tuesday that she and other NDLEA officers were promoted between 2022 and 2026 after the alleged incident conniving with Emeka Alphonsus Ezenwanne and Chibunna Patrick Umeibe who were arrested by the Police IRT at the car park of EnuguAirport after they were cleared out by NDLEA, The drug Suspects who confessed to the crimes before the Police IRT and later pleaded Guilty in the court were eventually convicted for just 2 years after an uneeded plea bargain by NDLEA on condition to give them soft landing and in return the drug Suspects are mandated to stop their usual confessions indicting NDLEA officers conniving with them. The convicted drug Suspects were subsequently released on 19/5/2023 after 16 months in prison while the Police IRT officers who arrested the dru traffickers, recovered the drugs, refused to compromise and handed over the Drug Suspects to NDLEA are kept in prison for Almost 5yrs for alleged Tempering with the drugs they recovered by themselves and handed over to NDLEA.

Nneoma, who was on duty at the airport on January 19, 2022, made the disclosure while being cross-examined by defence counsel, Albert Akahs.

She confirmed to the court that operatives of the Inspector-General of Police’s Intelligence Response Team IRT arrested the two drug traffickers on 19/1/2022 and handed them over to the NDLEA for prosecution alongside the cocaine.

Convicted Drug Criminals Ezenwanne and Umeibe had admitted travelling to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on January 15, 2022, “to bring cocaine with the help of one Iwolabi from Brazil”.

Testifying earlier, Ezenwanne said he was waiting at the airport car park for Umeibe when armed men approached them.

“When we arrived at Enugu International Airport, I was the first person to come out of the airport. I stood at the car park waiting for my second to come out,” he said.

He added, “As I got there, some men of Police IRT jumped out of the car with guns…. as they grabbed me and my second, they brought out their jackets with inscription IRT.”

According to him, the operatives wore the jackets to identify themselves as police officers before taking the two men away.

Ezenwanne further told the court that Umeibe pleaded with the Police IRT operatives to take the cocaine and release them but the Police IRT officers refused the offer.

“As it was happening, my second, Chibunna, was begging Police IRT to leave us and carry those stuff (cocaine),” he said.

He said the operatives subsequently contacted their superior and were directed to transfer the suspects to Abuja.

“The team Police IRT leader said we should shut up that if we talk again that he would deal with us,” Ezenwanne testified.

The drug convict said the incident occurred before Police IRT handed over to the NDLEA for prosecution.

During cross-examination, Ezenwanne admitted that he knew NDLEA operatives were stationed at international airports to prevent drug trafficking before he travelled to Ethiopia.

He also admitted paying ₦10,000 for kola to agents at the airport to facilitate his passage as their overall boss Patrick chukwujekwu had made all the necessary payments for their clearance before their arrival from Ethiopia. He said they were successfully cleared out of the Airport with the drugs by NDLEA before the Police IRT arrested them.

The defence had requested the testimony of NDLEA personnel who were on duty when the two men arrived at the airport to establish how the cocaine passed through the facility.

Testifying on Tuesday, Nneoma said she was initially assigned to the arrival hall but was redeployed to another duty post before the Ethiopian Airlines flight arrived.

She attributed the staffing situation to limited manpower following a sit-at-home order in parts of the South-East.

“On the 19th of January, 2022, when I arrived at the airport that morning, there was no movement in the Eastern States and it was declared sit-at-home because of Nnamdi Kanu’s court case,” she said.

She added, “Though I was supposed to work at the arrival hall, I was deployed to the N side and I left N side immediately before the Ethiopian airline flight arrived.”

However, when asked to produce an official notice confirming the sit-at-home order or a document authorising her redeployment, Nneoma said she had neither.

“No, my Lord. I didn’t make any arrest on the said date,” she said concerning the arrests made by the Police IRT on January 19, 2022.

“We don’t have body scanners or luggage scanners. The search is being done manually,” she said.

She explained that not every arriving passenger underwent a thorough search because the agency relied on risk assessment.

“No, every passenger is not being subjected to thorough search,” she said.

“There is what we call risk assessment because we can’t search arriving passengers.”

When asked whether she would be surprised to learn that the bags containing cocaine, tendered as Exhibits 7 and 8, had passed through the airport’s screening areas, Nneoma said she would not be surprised.

She admitted before the court that, “There was no administrative trial, neither was there any sanction. No query to that effect.”

On Wednesday, another NDLEA officer, Ageh David, told the court that although he was rostered for duty on January 19, 2022, he did not report after informing his officer-in-charge that he was unwell.

David, who said he joined the agency on July 25, 2021, and was posted to Enugu Airport in November that year, admitted that he had no medical report to support his absence.

“I was rostered on duty but I called in sick to my OC, so I didn’t come to work that very day,” he told the court.

David said he learnt about the arrest of the two drug traffickers by the Police IRT from other people and later saw them at the NDLEA Headquarters after the Police IRT had transferred the drug Suspects to NDLEA.

David also told the court that some NDLEA officers were transferred out of Enugu after the incident but that he did not know the reasons for their transfers.

He further testified that he was surprised to learn that drug traffickers could pass through the airport without being checked.

“I’m surprised to hear that NDLEA officers on duty passed drug traffickers without being checked, but I don’t know what happened,” he said.

The witness said he had never been detained or prosecuted in connection with the case and was unaware of any colleagues who had faced such proceedings.

He identified Tukur Garba, a Chief Superintendent of Narcotics, as the officer-in-charge on duty that day.

The court heard from all the witnesses that police IRT officers arrested the two drug traffickers after they had passed through the Enugu airport on January 19, 2022, before the Police IRT handed them over to the NDLEA with the cocaine exhibits.

Jonathan Jackson Federal High Court Abuja.